Rome Private Double Decker Open Bus Panoramic GuidedTour | Exclusive Sightseeing

Continue your promenade along with the Tiber River Bank and enjoy an external visit to the Holy Castle, one of the most ancient buildings in Rome. Built as Hadrian’s tomb, it was transformed in the middle ages into the fortress of the popes. Nowadays is one of the most iconic monuments in Rome.

Saint Peter's Square (Italian: Piazza San Pietro [ˈpjattsa sam ˈpjɛːtro], Latin: Forum Sancti Petri) is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave inside Rome, directly west of the neighborhood (rione) of Borgo. Both the square and the basilica are named after Saint Peter, an apostle of Jesus considered by Catholics to be the first Pope.

At the centre of the square is an ancient Egyptian obelisk, erected at the current site in 1586. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the square almost 100 years later, including the massive Doric colonnades,[1][2] four columns deep, which embrace visitors in "the maternal arms of Mother Church". A granite fountain constructed by Bernini in 1675 matches another fountain designed by Carlo Maderno in 1613.

The Theatre of Marcellus (Latin: Theatrum Marcelli, Italian: Teatro di Marcello) is an ancient open-air theatre in Rome, Italy, built in the closing years of the Roman Republic. At the theatre, locals and visitors alike were able to watch performances of drama and song. Today its ancient edifice in the rione of Sant'Angelo, Rome, once again provides one of the city's many popular spectacles or tourist sites. Space for the theatre was cleared by Julius Caesar, who was murdered before its construction could begin; the theatre was advanced enough by 17 BC that part of the celebration of the ludi saeculares took place within the theatre; it was completed in 13 BC and formally inaugurated in 12 BC by Augustus,[1] named after his nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus who had died in 23 BC.

The structure was built by Augustus in the name of his sister, Octavia Minor, sometime after 27 BC,[1] in place of the Porticus Metelli. The colonnaded walks of the portico enclosed the temples of Jupiter Stator and Juno Regina, next to the Theater of Marcellus. It burned in 80 AD and was restored, probably by Domitian, and again after a second fire in 203 AD by Septimius Severus and Caracalla. It was adorned with foreign marble and contained many famous works of art, enumerated in Pliny's Natural History.[2] The structure was damaged by an earthquake in 442 AD, when two of the destroyed columns were replaced with an archway which still stands. A church was built in the ruins circa 770 AD.[citation n

The Tiber Island (Italian: Isola Tiberina, Latin: Insula Tiberina) is the only river island in the part of the Tiber which runs through Rome. Tiber Island is located in the southern bend of the Tiber.

The island is boat-shaped, approximately 270 metres (890 feet) long and 67 metres (220 feet) wide, and has been connected with bridges to both sides of the river since antiquity. Being a seat of the ancient temple of Asclepius and later a hospital, the island is associated with medicine and healing. The Fatebenefratelli Hospital founded in the 16th century, and the San Bartolomeo all'Isola dating from the 10th century are located on the island.

Piazza Venezia (Italian: [ˈpjattsa veˈnɛttsja]) is a central hub of Rome, Italy, in which several thoroughfares intersect, including the Via dei Fori Imperiali and the Via del Corso. It takes its name from the Palazzo Venezia, built by the Venetian Cardinal, Pietro Barbo (later Pope Paul II) alongside the church of Saint Mark, the patron saint of Venice. The Palazzo Venezia served as the embassy of the Republic of Venice in Rome.

The Aventine Hill is the southernmost of Rome's seven hills. It has two distinct heights, one greater to the northwest (Aventinus Major) and one lesser to the southeast (Aventinus Minor), divided by a steep cleft that provides the base for an ancient roadway between the heights. During the Republican era, the two hills may have been recognized as a single entity.

The Augustan reforms of Rome's urban neighborhoods (vici) recognized the ancient road between the two heights (the modern Viale Aventino) as a common boundary between the new Regio XIII, which absorbed Aventinus Maior, and the part of Regio XII known as Aventinus Minor.

The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian: Circo Massimo) is an ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy. In the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire. It measured 621 m (2,037 ft) in length and 118 m (387 ft) in width and could accommodate over 150,000 spectators.[2] In its fully developed form, it became the model for circuses throughout the Roman Empire. The site is now a public park.

The Forum Boarium (Classical Latin: [ˈfɔɾʊ̃ˑ boˈäːɾiʊm], Italian: Foro Boario) was the cattle forum venalium of ancient Rome. It was located on a level piece of land near the Tiber between the Capitoline, the Palatine and Aventine hills. As the site of the original docks of Rome (Portus Tiberinus), the Forum Boarium experienced intense commercial activity.

The Forum Boarium was the site of the first gladiatorial contest at Rome which took place in 264 BC as part of aristocratic funerary ritual—a munus or funeral gift for the dead. Marcus and Decimus Junius Brutus Scaeva put on a gladiatorial combat in honor of their deceased father with three pairs of gladiators.

The site was also a religious centre housing the Temple of Hercules Victor, the Temple of Portunus (Temple of Fortuna Virilis), and the massive 6th or 5th century BC Great Altar of Hercules.

The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill, between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome.

The word Capitolium first meant the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus later built here, and afterward, it was used for the whole hill (and even other temples of Jupiter on other hills), thus Mons Capitolinus. In an etymological myth, ancient sources connect the name to caput, and the tale was that when laying the foundations for the temple, the head of a man was found, some sources even saying it was the head of some Tolus or Olus. The Capitolium was regarded by the Romans as indestructible and was adopted as a symbol of eternity.

By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Capitolino in Italian, and Capitolium Campidoglio. The Capitoline Hill contains few ancient ground-level ruins, as they are almost entirely covered up by Medieval and Renaissance palazzi (that surround a piazza, a significant urban plan designed by Michelangelo.

The Palatine Hill (/ˈpælətaɪn/; Latin: Collis Palatium or Mons Palatinus; Italian: Palatino [palaˈtiːno]), which relative to the seven hills of Rome is the centremost, is one of the most ancient parts of the city and has been called "the first nucleus of the Roman Empire."[1] The site is now mainly a large open-air museum while the Palatine Museum houses many finds from the excavations here and from other ancient Italian sites.

Imperial palaces were built here, starting with Augustus. Before imperial times the hill was mostly occupied by the houses of the rich.

The hill originally had two summits separated by depression; the highest part was called Palatium and the other Germalus (or Cermalus). Using the Forma Urbis its perimeter enclosed 63 acres (25 ha); while the Regionary Catalogues of the 4th century enclose 131 acres (53 ha).

Piazza Barberini is a large piazza in the Centro Storico or city center of Rome, Italy, and situated on the Quirinal Hill. It was created in the 16th century but many of the surrounding buildings have subsequently been rebuilt.

The current appellation was given in 1625 when it was named after the Palazzo Barberini, the substantial Baroque palace built in an elevated position on the south side of the piazza for the Barberini. Originally, there was a large entrance gateway to the palace designed by the Baroque painter and architect Pietro da Cortona on the south east corner of the piazza but this was demolished to make way for the construction of a new road in the 19th century. However, its appearance is known from engravings and early photographs of the piazza.

At the center of the piazza is the Fontana del Tritone or Triton Fountain (1642) sculpted by Bernini.

The street was built in the 1880s, during a real estate boom subsequent to the annexation of Rome to the new Kingdom of Italy. In the 1950s and 60s, Via Veneto acquired international fame as the centre of la dolce vita ("the sweet life"), when its bars and restaurants attracted Hollywood stars and jet set personalities such as Audrey Hepburn, Anita Ekberg, Anna Magnani, Gary Cooper, Orson Welles, Tennessee Williams, Jean Cocteau and Coco Chanel.[2] The 1960 film La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini immortalized Via Veneto's hyperactive lifestyle, lights, and crawling stream of honking traffic. Some of Rome's most renowned cafés and five star hotels, like Café de Paris, Harry's Bar, Regina Hotel Baglioni, and The Westin Excelsior, Rome, are located in Via Veneto.[3][4] The Embassy of the United States, housed in Palazzo Margherita, is located along the avenue.

Villa Borghese is a landscape garden in Rome, containing a number of buildings, museums (see Galleria Borghese) and attractions. It is the third largest public park in Rome (80 hectares or 197.7 acres) after the ones of the Villa Doria Pamphili and Villa Ada. The gardens were developed for the Villa Borghese Pinciana ("Borghese villa on the Pincian Hill"), built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese, who used it as a villa suburbana, or party villa, at the edge of Rome, and to house his art collection. The gardens as they are now were remade in the late 18th century.

Piazza della Repubblica is a circular piazza in Rome, at the summit of the Viminal Hill, next to the Termini station. On it is to be found Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. It is served by the Repubblica – Teatro dell'Opera Metro station. From the square starts one of the main streets of Rome, Via Nazionale.

The former name of the piazza, Piazza dell'Esedra, still very common today, originates in the large exedra of the baths of Diocletian, which gives the piazza its shape.[1] The exedra present in the baths of Diocletian was incorporated into the gardens built by Cardinal Jean du Bellay; on his death in 1560, the land was purchased by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, and eventually came into the possession of Cardinal Alessandro Sforza in 1579. Between 1598 and 1600 the exedra was converted into a church. Then, in 1885, the Via Nazionale cut through the centre of this structure.[2]

The Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Italian: Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Italian pronunciation: or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the largest Catholic Marian church in Rome, Italy.

The basilica enshrines the venerated image of Salus Populi Romani, depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary as the health and protectress of the Roman people, which was granted a Canonical coronation by Pope Gregory XVI on 15 August 1838 accompanied by his Papal bull Cælestis Regina.

Pursuant to the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between the Holy See and Italy, the Basilica is within Italian territory and not the territory of the Vatican City State. However, the Holy See fully owns the Basilica, and Italy is legally obligated to recognize its full ownership thereof and to concede to it "the immunity granted by International Law to the headquarters of the diplomatic agents of foreign States.